The Pirate Bay to be blocked in the UK

After months of legal controversy, British authorities have finally obtained a court order against the Pirate Bay, perhaps the most well-known torrent website in the world.

The Pirate Bay hosts torrent files – tiny files which trigger peer-to-peer downloads of content such as movies and software. Often this content is illegally shared between users, but as the actual pirated data is not hosted on the website itself, it can be difficult to prevent files being shared.

Authorities in Sweden, where the Pirate Bay is run, have already found the owners in breach of copyright twice but the site has not been shut down. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) asked ISPs to block the site last year, but all of them refused to do so.

Now the BPI has obtained a High Court order, which will force ISPs to comply with their demands. Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and O2 will now have to block access to the website. BT is not included in the preliminary ruling, but is likely to follow in time.

When Megaupload was taken offline, tens of clone sites popped up in its place, and some users will undoubtedly figure out ways of getting around the block using proxies. They may also simply move on to another site which offers the same content, or launch their own torrent server to get around the ban. Virgin Media have warned that blocking access is not the solution to piracy, but well-priced, legal sources of music and movies need to be offered before piracy can be wiped out.

Internet experts have warned that blocking just one website could open the floodgates for other websites to be blocked over time. The executive director of the Open Rights Group, Jim Killock, called the ruling “pointless and dangerous”.

In your opinion, why do people use torrent websites instead of buying films legally?